The Cursed
by maddieduch
Summary: AH/ Bella and Edward/ Bella's cursed. Since a disease swept through the Earth, millions of people have been left cursed. Edward is the head of the detainment center. He captures, tortures, and sometimes kills the cursed. What happens when Bella and Edward meet? Full summary inside. The story's also on Wattpad, but not as a fanfic. It'll be there first, if you want to read it early.
1. Story Info

So this is a story I'm writing. I hope you like it! I'm also uploading it on wattpad, but not as a fanfic. I'll update there first and it will be around two chapters ahead more or less. If you really want to know what happens you can check there. My username on wattpad is the0m0and0m. Please tell me about any grammar or spelling mistakes that you find and anything you think could be better explained. Thanks again for reading my story, enjoy!

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This is the summary:

The Cursed. Everyone had heard of them. They were normal people on the outside, but on the inside, they were different. Meet Bella. She's not your typical nineteen year old and when a freak accident forces her to work with Police Officer and Head of The Detainment Center in New York, Edward, her seemingly simple-ish life becomes a whirlwind. And with a psycho group of Cursed on the loose what else can she try to do than stop them...even with the chance of the world finding out who Bella really is...or should I say what she is.


	2. Chapter One:

**I knew what was about to happen moments before it did.** That was my curse. Knowing when something horrible or life threatening was about to happen but not being able to do anything about it because I didn't want to be caught as one of The Cursed.

The man in front of me had a gun in his pocket. At any moment he was going to use it to take money from the cashier. I was at my favorite , and also basically the only, restaurant in town, in Forks, Washington to be exact. It was called Toast.

The man in front of me was one of The Cursed too. He had the curse of changing shapes. With my advanced vision I could see his disguise flickering slightly. No one would ever find him if he escaped.

I decided to just help. Who cares. I slipped my phone out of my pocket and slowly dialed 911. I put the phone up to my ear. "Hi, Babe." I said, "Can you meet me at the coffee shop on market street? It's totes urgent. Thanks!" I then hung up. Please work. Please don't think it's just a prank call. The man in front of me turned cursed man turned around and just stared at me. I just blinked. I just had to hope that the police would get here in time.

That was who I was in this town. I was Bella Cignet here. I always kept my first name. I just changed last names. No one was the wiser. The Cursed had someone who could make fake IDs and things like that. I got a new one each time I moved.

No one really knew why The Cursed had powers. Just that we did and that because of them we should all die. I mean sure some of us deserve it, but not all of us.

I blinked away my thoughts and looked up. The man was next. I started to bite my nails (it was a nervous habit). I turned around. Someone walked through the door. I could see a gun in his pocket, but I also saw a badge. I let out my breath. Thank God. The police officer was looking around. His badge said his name was Edward. "Edward! Edward! Over here! Hey babe!" I pulled him into a hug and whispered in his ear, "Just play along." I was new here so one knew I didn't have a boyfriend so this worked. "Hey sweetheart! What's up?" He smiled at me and it made me swoon. His smile was perfect. "Can't a girl call her boyfriend for a date sometimes?" he brings me in for a kiss. "What's up?" he whispers against my lips. "The guy in front if me has a gun." He backed away and slowly watched as terror enfolded.

This place was one that you couldn't have a gun unless you were the police. Even if you had a concealed weapon license. The man in front of me got out his gun, "Give me all the money in the safe...pronto." His disguise was fading. He wanted to get out of there fast. At that moment the cash register lady froze. "Sir," she said, "I wasn't told the combo for the safe. I don't know it. If you leave quietly I won't call the police." The lady was brave. Standing up to the gunman like that. Brave...and stupid. So very stupid. I mean, he had a gun. Did that not mean anything to her?

Edward got his gun and cuffs out. He had quick reflexes. They were so quick I wondered for half a millisecond if he was one of The Cursed too, but then I realized that the police would have figured something out by now if he was.

He tackled the gunman and got the gun out of his reach. I let out a breathe. All was well. Then the gunman's shape flickered and I heard the scream. It pierced my ear drums. "He's cursed." That could be me. Me if I wasn't careful. "So," Edward said, "after we take this cursed bastard to the detainment room, want to get something to eat?" I finally got a good look at Edward. He had fairly perfect teeth (probably the work of braces), his eyes were the most amazing shade of emerald green I have ever seen and his hair, Oh God, he made the bed head look seem...sexy. It was a copper color and complemented his eyes quite perfectly.

"Well?" He asked breaking me out of my thoughts of him. I blushed. It was another terrible habit. Made me a terrible liar. It would almost always give me away, but it also helped. If I didn't blush, people who knew me would believe me. I had to think. He was police. He could..would turn me in if he found out. Detainment. Just a better word for loosing your life. I've heard all about detainment. I lived in detainment until I escaped. They conduct tests on you to see what makes The Cursed act the way they do. What makes them tick. I made a snap decision. "Yes." I said. "I'll go out with you, but I want to see him be locked up." I just wanted to go into the detainment center and think it's not for me this time. That's what I wanted and that's what I'd get.


	3. Chapter Two:

**Twilight and all characters belong to Stephanie Meyers**

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**We were quiet on the way to the Detainment Center.** Of course, there was a man in the backseat of the car that could, potentially, kill us all. I had to remember then, that if I were as bad as he was, so could I. When we finally got to the detainment center I was nervous. I hadn't been to one since the one in Houston and that one was a complete nightmare. The only difference between then and now was that now I wasn't the one in the plain, white room with no windows. As we were walking through the doors to The Detainment Center a bald man in his mid-forties stopped us. The man said, "Edward, who are they?" Edward replied, "The man is one of The Cursed and the girl is with me."

"Edward, look how similar she looks to the escaped Cursed girl from Houston. Her eyes aren't odd colored though. What color would you call this?"

"Brown. It doesn't matter. She's safe. She just saved a ton of people in Toast from a thief."

"What did you say her name was?"

I then repied to that, "Bella, Bella Cignet."

"Bella you say. Are you sure you're last name isn't Rivers? The girl we are looking for is Bella Rivers."

"I'm sorry, but that's not me. Come on Edward, let's just lock this dude up and go, kay?"

"Okay."

The drive to the cafe was silent. Of course, that may have been because I was accused of being cursed. I mean, I may be cursed, but that didn't mean that I wanted people to know about it.

By the time we finally got to the cafe the silence had turned into awkward silence. The parking lot was practically full, so we spent a long time just driving in circles. When we finally got a parking spot, we walked into the cafe. I ordered an espresso and a pound cake and Mark ordered black coffee.

"So," Edward asked once the silence became unbearable, "what do you want to do for a living?"

"I want to help make the world better and I want to try and stop people from being harmed, but I don't want to be an officer. I just want to love my life and help where I see fit. Do you get what I mean?"

"Yeah, I do. How old are you?"

"I'm nineteen. I turn twenty in September. What about you?"

"I'm twenty one and I turned twenty one last week."

"Well, happy belated birthday. What are you allergic to? I'm allergic to cats."

"I am proud to say that I am allergic to nothing." I just sit there thinking about him when: "I have a proposition for you." He interrupts my thinking, "Will you be my partner in getting rid of the cursed? You were able to seek that one guy out so easily? So, what do you say?"

I paused for a bit. The chance to actually help the world without revealing my secret was tempting, but was it really worth it? If I get caught, I could be thrown in the Center. My mind argued back and forth. It could help, one side said. You could get hurt, said the other. It was giving me a headache.

There was a battle forming in my mind, one side waiting for the other to surrender, but after what seemed like hours, but was probably only seconds, I blurted out, "Yeah. Sure. I'll help you hunt out the evil cursed." It looks like the curious side in me won that battle.

And that was what started me on the whirlwind of hunting evil.


	4. Chapter Three:

_I don't own Twilight or anything recognizable _

**When I got home from my date I was energetic**. I ran into my small one bedroom apartment and onto the couch in the living room. I sighed. Edward...he was so nice and I couldn't wait to see him again.

I was walking to the kitchen to get a glass of water when it happened. It was the sign of when I got a vision. My vision blurred up and my body refused to move.

She had long platinum blond hair and pitch black eyes. She looked cursed of you knew what to look for. She was whispering in people's ears forcing confusion everywhere. Two people were making out while their significant others were just watching with their mouths wide open. Another two people were fighting hand to hand using judo moves I could never do. This was all happening at the crossroads on West 34th Street and 9th Avenue. Uh. Crossroads. I could hear what she was whispering to this one man. "Kill everyone you see, then after a day, kill yourself." she gave him a knife and a small handgun. I had to stop this.

The moment the vision stopped I ran to the phone. I dialed Edward's number onto my phone. I got his voicemail. "Edward, when you get this go to West 34th Street and 9th Avenue. I think I found someone who is cursed." Other than myself, I added in my thoughts. I then got into my car and rushed to the crossroads.

When I got there the chaos had already begun. The two people were fighting and the couples were making out. I saw Blondie begin to whisper in the man's ear.

I ran over to him and pushed him out of the way. "My, my, aren't you a trouble maker. I hate trouble makers, so why don't you jump into traffic?" Blondie said.

That was when I found out that Edward had gotten to the crossroads. "No! Bella!" he yelled bringing Blondie's attention from me onto him. She smirked. "Now you, I want you to go and kill your little girlfriend there."

It was happening. Maybe not exactly like in my vision, but close enough. I had to think of a way to end this. I ran at Blondie.

That was probably not the best idea I had ever had. The moment I went after Blondie, Edward went after me. It was like her stupid Mind Control thing was making him want to protect her. Uh. I didn't know how to break her spell. The only way I could think of was to kill her and I'm not much of a murderous person. I mean, I try all I can to help people, not kill them!

I sidestepped Edward and slid on the ground and put my foot under Blondie's. She plopped on the ground in a very...graceful...way. "Wow. I didn't think the would actually work." I said to myself quietly. I walked up to her and grabbed her head. "I want you to kill yourself!" she screamed, trying to use her Curse as a last ditch effort. It did no good because in seconds I snapped her neck.

I felt so overwhelmed. In one day I meet a guy, agree to hunt my own kind, and then kill someone for the first time. Who can say they've ever done that but me?

Everyone seemed to be shaking off what had happened. I could hear murmurs of people talking about what had happened. "Murderers. All of them." Some people said. "We should just kill them all before they kill us." Said others. I laughed at that one. I mean, some of us were evil, but not all of us. That didn't mean they should kill us all. There are bad Humans and we don't kill off their whole kind because of the few evils.

Edward walked up to me. "Thanks for saving me sweetheart. How were you immune to her mind control?" He asks.

Shit. How so I answer this? "Um. I do-" I was cut off by a shrill ringing. It was Edward's phone. Thank god. Saved by the bell...er...phone, I thought.

"Yeah...Uh huh...We'll come right away...Okay...Yes...Bye."

"Edward, what is it?" Edward paused. The air was filled with suspense as he tried to think of the words to say.

"It's the Detainment Center. The cells they use, the ones that block the cursed's curse, they stopped working. There was a jailbreak. The cursed are running free. We have to stop this."

Shit. That right there was why I hated Crossroads. Something bad always happened at them. And there was always a choice that has to be made. Uh. Crossroads.


	5. Chapter Four:

**Anything recognizable belongs to Stephanie Meyers.**

**If someone would have told me a week ago that I'd be helping the police in finding cursed people, I would have laughed in their face and asked what they were smoking.**

But here I am in a car with Edward on my way to the detainment center.

The Holders, which is the section of the detainment center that holds the most vile and dangerous of_ the Cursed_ you could meet, was one of the few sections that had their cells stop working. Those _cursed_ had been caught attempting murder, using their powers for evil and things like that. They were free to roam around and no one could stop them unless we knew exactly who they are and there was no way to know for sure because of all the things we can do to look like someone else. I mean, I haven't even been caught yet.

When we finally get to the center and look at the cells, Edward and I are shocked to see that they look exactly the same as they did before. They have the same steel bars and plain white walls. If you look closely you can see a little box on the cell door's hinge. It looked like it had been melted or beaten down.

How did they break then? Who broke them? Was it _The Cursed?_ Why? These questions rolled through my head. They were giving me a headache. I just wanted to leave.

When we finally left I was tired. Both physically and emotionally. The car ride back to my house included me asking questions about the cages: How did they break? How could they?

Edward was probably exhausted from answering them as he had no answers.

When we got home I was dead tired, but it was around midnight so I had a good reason to be. I had fallen asleep in the car and woke as Edward was carrying me into my house. He had nudged me awake to ask, "Where are your keys?" To which I mumbled back, "In my pocket." as he unlocked my door and walked into the foyer he asked, "Which room is yours?"

"Second floor, first room to the right." I answered.

Edward set me down on my bed and tucked me in. As he went to leave I grabbed his arm. In my half-dead state I said, "Don't go. Stay. It's late." I don't really know what possessed me to say that, but if he asked I was going to say that I have no clue.

He stayed with me. He pulled up the cover and pulled them onto me. We move to opposite sides of my king sized bed and just crash. The world went black.

I woke up to an arm around my waist and my leg on top of someone else's. My first thought was Shit. What happened last night? That is when the memories of yesterday came rushing back to me.

The vision, Edward being controlled by that 'witch', getting the call from the center, looking at the cells, Edward taking me home, Edward putting me in my bed, Edward moving to leave, me asking him to stay, Edward. Edward. Edward. Edward. He filled my brain. I hated it. But I loved it.

I heard groaning coming from beside me. Edward was waking up. "Good morning," he said looking at me like I was all he could see. Well I know why. I look like shit in the morning. My hair is frizzy and I went to bed with my makeup on so it is probably smeared all over my face. _I have morning breath, _I think. I stop breathing.

"Let's go on another date today." He says. I don't know what compels me to say yes but I do. Dinner date.

I went to make pancakes in my kitchen. When I finish cooking we turn on the News Channel. The anchors are talking about some girl who was kidnapped. It was normal news to us. But then they showed the ransom note. "Let us be free and happy to rule the world. Let all of our kind go...or yours will die."

Shit. Well there goes our date.


	6. Chapter Five:

**Things I Own: An old Lexus, A cute chihuahua named Charlie, and a bucket-load of Kraft Shell Mac &amp; Cheese (I hear they are discontinuing it)**

**Things I Don't Own: Twilight, an iPhone 6, and Edward**

Happy May Day!

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**After he saw the note, Edward jumped up off of the couch and ran out the door.** I looked at the glass coffee table in front of me. He forgot his keys.

I walked out the door slowly thinking about what I saw on the news. _The girl was kidnapped because of the fact that the normals_\- I stopped that thought. It wasn't their fault that they were afraid of us and acted out on their fears in their own way.

When I got outside, Edward was searching his pockets for his keys. I laughed internally. He wasn't going to find them. "Edward," I yelled grabbing the keys out of my front pocket, "looking for these?" I asked jokingly. Yes, I knew it was not the best time to be acting this way, but the best time to make jokes is in a crisis.

He looked at me and ran to get the keys from my hands. he put the keys into the ignition and said, "Get in." I got into the car and watched the scenery pass by as he sped to the chief's office.

The chief's office was the same size as a normal office was. It had cream colored walls that, at one point, had probably been white.

"Yes Edward?" The Chief asked when Edward first walked in. He hadn't noticed me.

"We heard about the kidnapping case," said Edward, "and we want in." That was when the chief noticed me. "And who are you?" He asked. "I'm Bella. I'm helping him with _the cursed._" I replied. "And why should we let you two help with the case?" The Chief asked. "Because," I said, "we have reason to believe that a group of _Cursed _that escaped from the holders is responsible. Have you even looked at the ransom note?" I could tell from the Chiefs face that they had barely glanced at it. I rolled my eyes. "Figures." I muttered to myself and from the glare I got from both Edward and The Chief, it was easily heard by all. Oops.

I could tell that Edward was angry because he all but stomped out of the chief's office. "What was that in there?" he asked, "That could have ruined our chances of being in on that case!"

"If that happens we can work on it from the outside then. It doesn't matter." I could tell that my words did nothing to appease Edward. The drive home was taciturn.

When we got back and opened the door to my house, there was a piece of paper on the ground. In magazine cutouts there was the message, _five days until the killing starts. _Yes, I know, how original. Magazine cutouts. Do serial killers and kidnappers get their ideas from the same book?

We had five days. Five days to figure out exactly who it was and where they were. And why they were doing is. Five days. _Five days_.


	7. Chapter Six:

Stephanie Meyer owns Twilight. All I own is my idea and a computer.

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I hadn't realized exactly how bad our situation was until the Detainment Center received its first body part. _The Cursed _seemed to enjoy torturing their victims. Each day of the five days we spent searching for them we were sent something more gruesome. First was a pinky finger. Then it was a hand. Next came the arm. Then a foot and the next day a leg. The final day was the day we dreaded the most. On Edward's desk they found a heart. I'm not sure whether they were playing with us, showing us that they could, and would, kill their victims, or if they were just doing this for their own benefit. What I did know was that it disgusted me. After that we got a different heart each day.

When we first got the message no one believed us. They thought it was nothing but an empty threat. Only Edward and I knew that it wasn't. We had a right to an_ I told you so_, but I knew that it wasn't the right time for fun and games. Someone was going to be murdered. Murdered because of a gene. How stupid was that.

Day after day passed and we were getting nowhere. The city had enforced a curfew and you could not be anywhere by yourself. Not even at home. It barely helped though. Every few days another body would be found missing or dead and in the place of the body or with the body was always a note in magazine cut-outs. _Tick-Tock_ or _You're Getting Colder _or sometimes even a quick_ Too Late _is what the little notes would read.

Edward had taken to staying at my place. We would alternate who got the couch each night. However on the eleventh night we were sick and tired of the couch, him more than me seeing as he got one extra day, so we improvised. We were both on the bed and a giant pillow in between us. How juvenile. One of us would choose what we ate every other day. My days were filled with fast food and take out and his were full of his gourmet-like cooking. "How are you not a personal chef?" I said after first trying his food. He just shrugged.

Days became weeks and weeks became months of the same routine. He'd cook (or I'd drive us to McDonalds) and we'd go to work. Find the new body part and search for where _the cursed_ were hiding. We were still no closer to finding out what they were up to. I tried everything but one thing. Attempting to force a vision.

I'd never done it before so I had no idea how my body would react to it. I was too afraid to do it. I would only do it if I had to and I was beginning to think that maybe I would.


	8. Chapter Seven:

**Stephanie Meyers owns twilight. All I own is my idea and a computer.**

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**Days passed and we were still no where near close to finding the **_**Cursed**_**. **A week had passed when we had our first lead. We were given an anonymous tip about where the _Cursed_ were. We thought it was a lead at least.

The tip led us to an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of town. It was a large building and it had a skylight on the top. We decided that would be the best way to get in.

We agreed that when we got there Edward would be the first to go in. He would give the okay that the rest of the team could go in.

It was times like this that I wished the _Cursed _could be trusted. Well, at least a few of them. If we were trusted I could tell the team that I was _Cursed _and they'd have me help because very few of other _Cursed curses _worked on me.

If I had known earlier what a mistake it would be to let Edward go in there alone, I would have put a stop to it. But I didn't know then and I couldn't stop it.

When we got to the building the team put on their Night-Vision Goggles. We all tuned our Walkie-Talkies to the same channel and we were prepared to go in.

I don't think anyone anticipated Edward being taken as hostage, but that's what happened. Edward went in first. He tuned in and said, "It's safe. You can co-" He was cut off. We could hear fighting inside. The Walkie was still tuned in so I could hear everything. I could hear the grunts of pain when someone got punched. I could feel the vibrations of him being thrown around. I was frozen in shock. I couldn't move. That was when the world went silent. And the Walkie-Talkie fell to the ground.

It was the silence that jolted me from my frozen state. I jumped in hoping he was still there. But when I made it to the ground no one was there.

It was as if they all disappeared and for the first time in a long time I didn't know what to do. I was scared about what they would do to Edward.

That's when I tuned in. "No one is here." I said, "They're all gone." I knew the team would stay to look for clues but I couldn't. I cried the whole way home knowing that this was all my fault. I knew that if I had looked into the future to check what was going to happen this wouldn't have happened. I was a failure. I had let Edward get captured and it was all my fault. I spent the majority of the drive home berating myself for what I did. _It's your fault. All your fault_. Those words drifted through my brain again and again. But it was the truth. This was all my fault. It was at that moment that I knew I would save Edward from the _Cursed_. I just had to figure out where he was and why the Cursed wanted him. I spent the remainder of the drive thinking up ways to save him. It was one of the longest drives home I had ever driven, but never once did looking into the future cross my mind.


	9. Chapter Eight:

Stephanie Meyer owns Twilight, not me.

* * *

When I got home the house was quiet. I could understand why: Edward wasn't there making a joke. I went straight to my bedroom, locked the door, and fell asleep.

My dreams consisted of wonderful things: a life without Curses. A life with Edward. There were colors swirling around and people's smiling faces looking forward. I wished a life that simple could actually exist.

I woke up and drove myself to the office. I didn't turn my radio on or look at the view of the park. I just drove.

The people at work all had solemn faces. They acted as if someone had died. I suppose that in a way someone had.

I was given an assignment in Queens. A young girl had been seen using her Curse by her mother. The mother turned her in. It sounded like my story a bit.

I was told to get her and drag her to the detainment center. We didn't even know her last name. We didn't know her power. And so I went.

I drove myself to Queens. I was alone. I knew that she enjoyed going to The Ice Cream Parlor on Main Street. I knew that her name was Emilie. And that she was fifteen.

The ice cream parlor was an small, old building squashed between a bank and a Chinese restaurant. Despite its small size it was bursting with people.

I walked into the parlor and was greeted with a small cup that I could use to sample any ice cream I wanted. I went to the bar and asked for a Cookies and Cream. I was eating my ice cream when a girl with bleach blond hair and dark black eyes walked in. That was Emilie.

She looked around and went in line. "May I have a Mint Chocolate Chip please." She asked the man made her her ice cream. She sat down at the table next to mine.

"Emilie," I said, "I need to talk to you." She looked frightened as we walked outside.

"I need to ask you some questions." I said. "Are you cursed? If you are it's okay."

"Why would you want to know?"

"I am from the Detainment Center. We want to know if you have a curse. An anonymous source told us they saw you practicing your curse. If you have one don't worry. You're lucky it's me that they sent and not someone else. I won't put you in the Detainment Center. "

"Yes. I have a curse. I can read people's minds. Even cursed people's minds. I could read yours. I just wanted to know if you would tell me the truth. Thank you."

"So then you know that I'm cursed too then?"

"I only know what you are thinking. I can help you find Edward. I'll use my power to see if any of the other cursed know anything about where Edward is."

"I won't tell the detainment center about you. I'll say you ran and I couldn't catch you. You do realize that you'll never be able to see anyone you knew again?"

"Well, I wouldn't have been able to anyway." That was the start of a beautiful friendship.

I had told the Center that Emilie ran away and was too fast for me to catch her. I checked in with Emilie every day after that first day. And everyday was the same: No Edward. No one knows where he is. I wondered if I'd ever find him.

It wasn't until a week after I met Emilie that we had an idea about where he could be. There was an old section of the subway that hadn't been used in years. It was abandoned and it would be perfect for their purpose.

I gathered the rest of the squad and told them that an anonymous tip told me that Edward would be in that abandoned section of the subway. A week later we would head out.

The rest of the week we planned out our strategies. We would send a small group of people in to capture Edward's kidnappers. Then the rest of us would go in and we would save Edward

The plan went into action. I would be part of the second group. The first group walked in and gave the all clear after they tied up the cursed guarding Edward.

That was when I ran in.


	10. Chapter Nine:

Things I own: Four inch high heels and a bluray friends box set.  
Things I don't own: Twilight and a diamond necklace.

* * *

_Chapter__ Nine: Fight or Flee_

The first room I entered was dark and gloomy. It reeked of mold and rats. If I hadn't known that Edward was being kept here somewhere I probably would have left and asked someone else to save him. The room's scent made me _that_ nauseous. I hoped the other rooms smelled better.

The second room I entered was spacious. It still had a menacing feel to it, but it was not as terrible as the first. The smell filled this room too. There was a single chair in the center of the room. Instead of a person sitting on it, there was a pile of ropes. It looked as though someone had just left after untying themselves. _Edward_, I thought, _Edward__ could have sat there_.

I ran out of the room and into the second, third, fourth. As I ran out of the final room something whooshed past my cheek. I was being ambushed. It was a trick.

"Shit! My leg!" I heard someone scream from far behind me. I recognized that voice...Edward! He was mumbling to himself about how he knew it stupid of him to try to escape. How it would only backfire. "Fight or flee..." He mumbled, "Flee or fight." It seemed as though he was in shock. I could hardly imagine what they could have done to him.

I pushed us down to the ground and began crawling away, looking back to see if Edward was doing the same. Seeing that he was, I tried to remember how to leave.

I guided Edward through the poison-like scented rooms and guided him to the stairs, leading him to safety. However, just as we made it our salvation, the bullets rained down. They fell like rain, like a massive storm sending the rain at us from all directions.

The bullets were not being fired in total succession, we did have some time to breathe. We ran to the door, I was not sure if we would even make it out. But we did.

* * *

When the sunlight hit us, I don't know who was more grateful, myself or Edward. Edward was grateful to be free of _The Cursed_. Me, I was grateful for making it out alive, with both myself _and_ Edward safe from any fatal harm.

Our team was standing by waiting for our report on what had transpired down in the tunnels. I talked of the stench and told my side of the fight.

Edward's story was so much worse. He talked of the torture he had to go through. How _The Cursed_ used their curses in making his time down there miserable.

He talked of feeling as though he was drowning, when he was only just lying down. He talked of the thousands of tiny shocks one _cursed_ person gave to him each day, seemingly each hour. And worst of all was what he was fed: a small, nearly stale loaf of wheat break, a slice of old cheese, and warm water. He was fed, as far as he knew, once a day.

It was nearly torture for myself to hear of all the pain he had gone through. It was then that I decided two things. One, I was going to do all I could to win this war, even at the cost of my own life, and two, I would do all that was in my power, including using my power and forcing a vision, to keep Edward safe even if it cost me my own safety.


	11. Chapter Ten:

**I do not own Twilight. Stephanie Meyer does. **

_**Chapter Ten: Movies, Revelations, and Visions...Oh My!**_

* * *

**A few months passed by and Edward seemed to be depressed.** He turned to alcohol to help make him feel better. He was obviously suffering from PTSD and although we were giving him all the help he needed, he still suffered and didn't get any better. All of us at the center prayed daily that he'd get better but he wasn't. When I visited him he was always drunk. He would be lying on his couch, beer bottle in hand. It's all he seemed to do. He didn't pay attention to anything or anyone. He was always staring out into space and drinking beer.

I had been using the past few months to try and figure out how to force a vision. Nothing I did ever worked. I tried thinking of the people who were taken...nothing. Tried imagining the feelings I got when I got a vision...nothing. Nothing I did worked. I was considering giving up.

One day, when I was visiting Edward, I got a brilliant idea. Of course, others may not have thought it to be brilliant, but I did. I would go talk to Emilie. _She could get inside people's minds_, I thought, _maybe she could figure it out. Maybe she had met someone who had a _Curse_ like mine._ It was worth a try.

The next few days were spent trying to figure out where Emilie was. After we found out where Edward was and got him back, she fled, worried that now that she was unneeded we would lock her up. What she didn't know was that only I knew where she was then.

I was running out of time. Weeks were passing by and Emilie was no where to be found. I needed her help. The _Cursed_ were always three steps ahead of us, I needed a vision of them and I needed one now.

Edward's depression got worse each day that passed and to be completely honest I didn't know what to do.

_Maybe a movie would make him feel better. He has just locked himself in his room. Fresh air and vitamin whatever and all that will work, _I thought._ It will help get my mind off of my visions too. Win-win deal. _

I just wasn't sure how to approach the idea to him. More though, I wasn't sure how he'd take the idea. "Just go with it. It doesn't matter what he thinks. It's your choice. So what if he says no." I told myself.

I left my apartment and drove to his.

* * *

When I got to his apartment I knocked on the door. _Note to self_, I thought, _ask for a key. I'm over here_ _enough as it is._ I took a deep breath as he opened the door.

"Hey Edward! I was just wondering if you'd like to go to the movies or something? You know, to get your mind off things." _Did that sound okay?_ I asked myself internally. _Shit! What if my mentioning of the_ _'things' going on sends him deeper._ I began to panic. I looked up at Edward to make sure that what I said hadn't bothered him too much.

I was mostly worried because he hadn't replied. "Edward?" I asked. "What do you say? Want to got out? Y-you know to the mov-movies?" _Great, now I am so worried I'm stuttering!_ I rolled my eyes internally at myself. I just wanted him to reply. _Why isn't he responding? _

The silence was unbearably. It was so silent you could hear a pin drop. Edward could probably hear my thumping heartbeat. And just when I thought I couldn't take one more second of waiting Edward replied, "Sure. Why not."

* * *

When we got to the movie theater, Edward and I went straight for the line for tickets. It would have been easier to have bought them online, but seeing as this was a spur of the moment asking him to the movies, we hadn't had the time.

So here we were, standing quietly in line. Practically as though strangers. But we were not strangers. We had known each other for nearly a year now. "So." I said trying to start a conversation. "So." He replied. _God! Why am I so horrible at normal conversations. Curse my antisocial childhood. _"So," I try again, "what movie would you like to see?"

"How about that new action movie. It'd be nice to see that someone else has life threatening problems in their life, even if they _are_ fictional."

The movie turned out to be pretty good. It was about some guy who, with the help of his girlfriend, secretly caught criminals behind the safety of a mask. Near the end of the movie, it got absolutely terrible. See, I got _really_ emotional when watching movies and so when the vigilante's girlfriend died from a bullet to the heart, I started bawling. All I could think was that that could have been _me_. _I_ could have been the one crying over the body of a lost love. _I_ could have been the one whose reason for living had left.

It was then at that moment that I realized something important. It was something that I been suffering from for a while now. A malady that I hadn't noticed but still knew it had always existed. I had never been one to believe in love at (almost) first sight, but I realized that _that_ was what had happened to me. I mean, I was a realist, but somehow, someway, I had fallen in love with Edward. I had fallen irrevocably, undeniably in love with Edward. And I had to tell him.

* * *

The movie ended and we left with the crowd of people. Edward and I were walking side by side and all I was thinking about was telling him about how much I loved him.

I stopped before we left the theater and pulled him aside. I was so nervous about what I was planning on telling him. "Edward," I said, "I have something I need to tell you. I know you probably don't feel the same way or anything but I realized something recently. I realized that I am completely in love with you. I just wanted to tell you that." I looked down not wanting to meet his eyes. I was terrified that he hadn't felt the same way and that I had just made a total fool of myself.

"Bella," he replied. _This is it,_ I thought, _he's going to tell me he has no feelings_ _for me whatsoever. I just_ _hope he lets me down easy. _"I lo-" he was cut off by the shrill ringing of my cell. I looked down at it. Emilie. Shit. I had been waiting for this call all night and I get it _now_! Just as Edward was, hopefully, going to tell me he loved me back. At least, that's what it sounded like. _God, what if he was going to say I _loathe _you. Or something terrible like that. I should just run away. I mean, I do have an excuse._ "I'm sorry Edward, but I have to take this." Then I ran outside to take the call.

* * *

I answered my cell the moment I stepped outside. "Bella! Why have you been calling me? You have to understand that I am in hiding. From you and your detainment center. What do you need?"

"I need help Emilie. How does your power work? I'm trying to figure out how to force visions and nothing I'm doing is working. How do you get your power to work? I've tried everything that I can think of." I was so close to just giving up but I knew that I couldn't. Not if I wanted to stop the _cursed_.

"It just happens," she said, "I don't force it. It just comes naturally. Try that. Try not forcing it but allowing it to happen. Just let it come to you. Try relaxing first. It's most likely the stress that is making it not work."

I walk back inside to where Edward is waiting. I walked up to him and told him, "I need to leave...right now. I'm sorry but I really need to leave." Then I called a cab and left the theater.

I entered my house and sat on my couch. _Ok_, I think, _just relax._ _Clear your mind. You can do this._ I call Emilie back. "Ok. I'm going to try and get a vision know. I'm going to keep you on the line until I get it in case I talk about what I see. I want to hear someone else's take on whatever it is that I see."

"Got it. I'll talk to you once you're back."

_What I saw was a small room. I recognized the small room. It had been abandoned years ago. Forgotten from my mind. It was the very place that I practiced piano before I gained my _curse_. My mother sent me to practice with an old lady named Ms. Mills. When she died, however, no one bought the building and it was left abandoned and forgotten. But seeing what I saw then brought back all the memories._

_I also saw a girl. She was young, maybe eleven or twelve. She was the girl who had most recently disappeared_.

When I finally came back to the present I yelled, "I know where they are keeping the children. It's where I took piano lessons when I was younger!"

I didn't know it then, but Edward was behind me when I finally forced my vision. He, worried about why I had left so suddenly, had followed me home and because I hadn't closed the door he had walked in. He had heard me talking to Emilie about my visions. To be blatantly honest though, I'm not sure if I would I have done it any differently though had I had the choice of a redo. He deserved to know the truth. Even if this meant life as I knew it was going to change. Drastically.


	12. Chapter Eleven:

**I do not own Twilight or the characters.**

**Edward was drunk. Again. **He had started drinking heavily again after I had forced my vision, but I wasn't sure why. Each day was the same. I went to his house only to find him lying on his coach with a bottle on Jack Daniels in one hand and the television remote in the other. He would just sit there as though he couldn't hear or see me.

Today, however, I was determined to get him to say something to me. I started off the routine as normal. I entered his house (his door was stupidly unlocked) and said, "Hey Edward. I'm here" only to have him not reply back. He'd sit catatonically only moving to drink beer and eat stale chips that were on his coffee table.

This time, instead of making idle conversation (I spoke. He listened) I grabbed him and pushed him off the couch.

I didn't mean to push him. I only meant to shake him up a bit but as the saying goes the bigger they are, the harder they fall.

I cringed as his body hit the floor with a loud thump. "Sorry." I whispered. _Shoot. _He was out cold. The fall knocked him unconscious. (How is that even possible. The drop was barely even a foot.) Or maybe it was just the beer getting to his mind.

I couldn't move him so I just sat there with him on the floor waiting for him to wake up.

When he finally did wake up I whispered in his ear, "Edward, you have to stop drinking so much." He just nodded his head, which was more than he'd done in about a week. "Sit on the couch while I make you some breakfast-" I glanced at the clock in his television room, "uh, lunch I guess."

I made eggs, well I tried to. I could burn water. After I ruined the eggs, I took out some cereal-I mean, how hard could it be to make cereal. You just grab cereal and milk-and put it in a bowl with milk. _Yes! I did it! _

I brought it out to Edward. He dug in. But he still wasn't talking to me. It was as if he had nothing to say to me. As if we were strangers. The silence was stifling and awkward. It was a new kind of silence. _I guess he really doesn't like me._

"Well, I guess I'll be off then," I said. "Bye Edward." Then I walk out his door.

§•§•§

_Should I have _really _left him there like that? Should I go back and check on him and make sure he hasn't drunk himself to death? What should I do?_

I found myself pacing around my apartment. Questions tumbling through my head. Should I stay or should I go? What should I do? My mind was beginning to hurt.

That's when my vision went blurry.  
_I saw Edward, a drunk Edward. He had his home phone in his hand and he was wearing the same thing he'd been wearing earlier. The same thing he'd worn for the past week. "Yes chief," he said, "I found a _Cursed_ girl." The chief said something I couldn't hear. "Yes. Bella." I glance around the surroundings. I saw the calendar that I had been keeping track of. It was today's date. _

He was going to tell the chief about my _Curse_. He _found out_ about my _curse_. I didn't see a clock so I had no clue how long I have until he makes that phone call.

I rushed out of my door and got in my car. I had to get to Edward's place. I _had _to.

§•§•§

I got to Edwards's place and opened the door. I didn't know what caused him to find out about my _curse_ and I did't want my entering his house to be that reason. "Yes chief," I heard him say. _No. I'm too late, but maybe-_ "I found a _Cursed_ girl." The chief said some unheard thing. "Yes. Bella."

That's when I know. I was too late. That's when I opened his door and ran out. Before I ran out, I could see him turn around. Shock on his face as he saw mine.

"Bella?" He yelled. That was when I ran out the door. That was when I ran to the only safety I had ever known. That was when I ran to my mother's old house. The one that was abandoned years ago, but still under my name. Under my real name. The one that nobody I currently knew, knew applied to me. The name Bella Rivers.


	13. Chapter Twelve:

_**I don't own Twilight or any of the characters**_

_§•§•§_

__"The name's Rivers. Bella Rivers." _I laughed. "Mom! I'm like James Bond. Double-O-Seven." My mom and I always watched the classics on my birthday and this one was no different. It was my ninth birthday. We hadn't realized how different I was yet. We had this tradition. We'd sit on the long, floral print couch and watch a classic. Be it Jurassic Park or Harry Potter, we'd watch it on that couch with a bowl of popcorn between us. _  
The memories flowed as I pulled off sheet after sheet from the furniture. I saw my mom and I running around the dinner table as I _refused _to eat my veggies when I was seven. I saw myself climbing on a chair in the kitchen and attempt to make pancakes for breakfast in bed for my mom for her forty-fifth birthday. They burned and I fell off the chair and broke my feeble six year old leg.

I looked around the house and the memories overwhelmed me. All I could see was my memories. Memories of broken bones. Memories of unrequited loves. Memories of mom. Memories of fun. Memories of stupid ideas. Memories of friends. Memories of-then my mind went blank. It's too much. Too many memories. My head was pounding. I heard a ticking noise and then a buzzing one. _Too loud. Too crowded in my brain. _Then it got to much. That was when I fainted.

_§•§•§_

Days passed by exactly the same. I woke up, ate breakfast, watched the news, ate lunch, checked the news for anything new on the _cursed, _ate dinner, then I went to sleep. Days turned to weeks and weeks turned to months. I'd realized that the people with the Detainment Center were probably not going to find me. I was safe. Finally. Just then there was a knock on my door. _Shit. I spoke too soon. That always happens! _I thought. I slowly walked to the door and checked in the peep hole. I was holding my breath and...it was just Emilie. Oh thank god. Her bleach blond hair was a relief. I was expecting someone more along the lines of Edward or the Chief.

"They're still looking for you. Edward regrets telling chief and he's stopped drinking."

Those were the first words that came out of her mouth as I opened the door.

"How did you find me?"

"I tracked you through people's thoughts. I looked for people who have seen you and followed the trail. It wasn't all that hard." My heart was hammering. _What if they had someone tailing Emilie. What if she led them here on accident, _I thought.

"No worries. No one knows I'm here. No one was following me. Your location is safe. I think." _Well that's comforting, _I thought sarcastically to myself. _Shit. Emilie can hear every word I think. Stop thinking. Stop thinking. _

"That's not helping. In fact it's kind of annoying. So if you'd stop I'd be grateful."

"If your sure no one followed you here..."

"I am. Now, let's discuss your plans for living a normal life on the run. What are your plans so far?"

"I was just going to stay here. You know, live my life and all. Maybe dye my hair. I mean, they're looking for brown hair, so I'm thinking of dying my hair blonde or red and I'm going to get colored contacts. But other than that I'm not going to do anything."

"I'd suggest red for the hair and blue for the eyes. But where are you going to work? How will you pay for food and the house?"

"I'm going to work at the café in town square as a waitress or something. The house is mostly paid off already so I don't think that it will be much of a problem. I'll be fine. You don't need to worry so much."

"I don't worry I just-" That was when the door opened. I had forgotten to lock it after Emilie. It had to just be a neighbor, right? "Hide!" Emilie whispered frantically. "Just do _something_. Go out the back door and hide!" I, of course, followed her instructions. I was on my way to the back door when I froze.

_No. No. No. Not a vision. Bad timing. Stop. Stop. Stop. _I was unable to and suddenly I was enveloped in a vision.

_It was me. I was walking out the back door of the house when someone came up from behind me and placed cloth over my face. Chloroform. My body went rigid and I collapsed. _

So I was_ not _going to go out the back door. That'd be a bad idea. _Understatement of the year. _I internally scoffed. Thank you vision.

Then I realized something. I'd been standing there for a few minutes. The people could be anywhere by now. I turned around quickly and looked left and right. I sighed.

Then I was reminded of every horror movie I had ever watched and looked up. I closed my eyes before I got there like the idiot I was. I didn't want to know if someone had somehow climbed up onto the top of the armoire that held the very TV that my mother and I used to watch classics on. I took a deep breath and opened my eyes.

_Nothing. _I had wasted all that time worrying for nothing. _Thanks horror films for making me worry over nothing. _I rolled my eyes and began to walk away.

_I wonder how Emilie is doing, _I thought as I climbed up the stairs to the room in the back, my old room. The room had a balcony and some rope under the bed-I was an adventurous child who always loved escaping from my room at night to play in the woody area behind my house.

I got to my room and immediately grabbed the rope and headed out to the balcony. I couldn't see anyone, but that didn't necessarily mean that no one was there-I couldn't see _under_ the balcony.

I tied one end of the rope to the metal fence surrounding the balcony and through the rest of it down. _Geronimo, _I thought as I grabbed the rope and began to climb down.

When I got to the bottom, I immediately ran to the woods and hoped that no one would see me. It seemed my luck had run out though because the moment I crossed through the trees that separated the woods and the grass of my back lawn I tripped over a tree root that was sticking up out of the ground. I heard a cracking noise. _Great, _I thought, _I've become one of those stupid girls I like to make fun of in horror movies. Falling over everything in sight. _

I felt pain in my ankle. _Ignore it, _I thought as I tried to stand back up. Tried being the keyword. I couldn't stand up my ankle burned too much for that to be possible. _Of course I'll break a bone as I'm trying to escape from a bunch of lunatics who hate anyone with a curse. _I looked up at the sky and saw a full moon. I snickered at my thoughts. _Lunatic-deriving from the word that means people going insane under a full moon._

I heard footsteps from behind me. _Think Bella. Think. What to do. How to get out of this. Think! _Nothing. Nada. Zilch. That's what came to my mind. I couldn't think of a single thing to do to save myself. I was absolutely, no doubt about it, screwed.


	14. Chapter Thirteen:

**I don't own Twilight or its characters.**

* * *

**What am I thinking? I can't just give up!** "Damn it, Bella pull yourself forward or something! You can't let yourself get caught. Come on Bella, you can pull yourself out of this. Just kind of drag yourself away. Shit. Now I'm talking to myself. Nice going Bella."

I pulled myself forward towards the tree line. Almost there. Keep going, I thought to myself, in an attempt to encourage myself to not get caught. Not that I needed much encouragement, but the possible broken ankle was definitely something that was not going for me.

I saw the edge of the tree line infront of me when I froze. My body literally wouldn't allow itself to move. I was frozen in place. So close to freedom, but still not close enough to be safe.

_Why can't I move?_ I thought to myself. _If I can get my arms to move I can-great I'm doing it again. I'm talking to myself. Only crazy people talk to themselves Bella. Stop talking to yourself. Or well, thinking I guess._

That was when a shadow covered me. It was a large shadow. From the shape, most likely a man's shadow. So considering the fact that I couldn't move, that was a bad thing. This guy either worked for the evil Cursed or the detainment center and I had no idea which would be worse.

"Miss Rivers," said the voice towering above my still frozen body, "you are under arrest for your escape from the Center in Texas and for not identifying yourself as Cursed. Due to the fact that you are a risk to the public, you do not have the right to remain silent. Do you understand?" I think he must have expected me to nod, but I just stared at him.

"How did you find me?"

"We had an anonymous source. Anonymous to you anyways. The person asked to not be named to you until that person was ready."

"Why can't I move"

"Handy little trick, right? One of the Cursed on our team did that. After a few months in a cell in the Detainment Center he was ready to be put to use."

"You had him locked in a cell and yet he still wanted to work for you?"

"You were locked up once and yet you still helped us out." I had no reply to that. It was the truth. I had been locked up and yet I still helped the Detainment Center capture the Cursed who proved to be evil. But I had done it because of a pretty face that I had fallen in love with. Only to be stabbed in the back by in the end.

Edward's loyalties laid in his country rather than with me. I was saving the world with him and yet he turned me like I was nothing more than a common criminal. But that's what people thought of the Cursed. No matter how much good we did, we were still marked as evil because we could do things no one else could.

I was picked up and placed in a car. I couldn't move my limbs so the tall, bulky guy who read me my "rights" placed my in a sitting position.

During the car ride there was one question I wanted to ask. Did Emilie make it out? Did she get captured? But I was too afraid to ask. What if they hadn't seen Emilie and they didn't even know she had been there? I would have just given her up to the Detainment Center and she'd be sent there too. I couldn't let that happen.

When we got to the Detainment Center I was unfrozen but handcuffed. The same bald man from the day Edward and I brought the first Cursed guy in together was there. "I knew Bella Cignet was really Bella Rivers! I knew it!" He exclaimed as I was walked through the door next to him.

As we walked down the hall to my cell, the inmates were staring at me. They probably felt betrayed seeing as I had out most of them in there myself. We stopped at my cell a few minutes later. "Hey Bitch!" I heard from across the hall. In the cell across from mine stood the first person I had ever helped get out in here.

His form was no longer flickering. The cell blocked all use of our curses. He had long hair that had a slight wave to it. He had a scar that ran across the entire left side of his face. He had mismatched eyes, one blue and one brown. He had crooked yellow teeth and his mouth was stretched into a terrifying sneer as he looked at me.

"Hey Bitch!" He yelled again, "What are you in here for? Abandoning your own kind? Betraying us? You deserve to rot in this place for what you did to us. When I get out of here I'll strangle you and your little boyfriend." He kept rambling on giving out death threats and talking shit about me and my betrayal of the cursed for putting even the evil one is the center. In his eyes, no one should rot in these cells, even if they were murderous thieves like he was. No one except me.

I sat down in my all white cell. There were no windows so the only light was from the hallway. I was stuck in here with no way out until I found a chance to escape, if I would even have a chance. They probably had a ton of guards guarding my cell seeing as I had already escaped from a center.

Then my cell door opened and in walked someone I had never thought I would ever see again. I was utterly confused as to why she would be here, but as she walked in my cell she said in an extremely fake tone, "Sorry I had to give up your little hiding spot." and I knew that she was the person who gave the anonymous, at least to me, tip.

* * *

**H****i guys!**

**I'm also posting the on Wattpad but not as a fanfic. I try to stay at least one chapter ahead on Wattpad, so if you don't mind it not being a fanfic and you really want to know what happens next you can read it there. It's under the same name but the username is the0m0and0m. If you see any grammar or spelling mistakes you can comment on the same line in Wattpad so I know exactly what's wrong. **

**Thanks so much for reading my story! **

**~maddieduch**


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